My interdisciplinary work mixes science communication with cultural studies, history and media studies. Starting as a journalist and freelance photographer I moved into academia to carry out research into popular science. I now have over thirty years experience of research and teaching in cultural perspectives on popular science, collaborating with scientists and engaging with scientific controversies.
For my reflections on thirty years of science communication see the series of posts “More than the Echo”:
2. Ideological Science Communication
As well as writing a range of papers on science, media and culture I am the author of two books:
Understanding Popular Science (Open University Press, 2006)
Media Science before the Great War (MacMillan 1996)
You can see a video of my talk at the “Trust in Science” workshop held in Toronto – “Trust Me I’m a Patient: experiential expertise as a way to open up science-public dialogues”
My latest projects are:
- Filby: a fictionalised account of scientific and technological developments in 1895 (see Filby: who is Filby? and Filby: opening
- The Republic of Science: an examination of the public’s relationship with science through looking at the way that scientists were invented, made themselves disappear and the dangers this poses for our future.
- Borderlands, where science meets everything else: an attempt to replace Snow’s “Two Cultures” with a perspective that reveals the messy interactions between science and the human world in which it is embedded.
I am currently doing research as part of the project management team for NUCLEUS. This is a four-year, international project that aims to embed Responsible Research and Innovation into universities and scientific institutions.
Follow me on Twitter @peterbroks
Or email me: peterbroks@hotmail.co.uk
